Shanahan, Daniel (2024) Analogue Gravity and the de Broglie wave: a Missed Opportunity. [Preprint]

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Abstract

In a small book entitled Ondes et Mouvements, published in February 1926, Louis de Broglie described the wave, now known as the de Broglie wave, as a modulation or beating effect of undulatory form induced in the structure of the particle by the failure of simultaneity. Considered in this way, the de Broglie wave is neither ontologically distinct, nor in any way separate, from the particle, but like the Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction is a distortion in the structure of the particle itself. So understood, the de Broglie wave is a physically real phenomenon, capable of describing for the particle, a well-defined and physically realistic trajectory. In comparison, and as I argue in this paper, the wave functions that emerge as solutions to the Schrödinger and Klein-Gordon equations are better regarded as mathematical constructs, albeit constructs of significant utility, identifying the wave number and frequency that the particle would have at each point of space if it were in fact at that point of space. A particular concern of this paper will be to show that the de Broglie wave would emerge as such a distortion of structure in certain sonic quasiparticles proposed in the context of Analogue Gravity for the purpose of simulating the Lorentz transformation.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Shanahan, Daniel danjune@bigpond.net.au 0000-0003-1896-4740
Additional Information:	To appear in The Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on the Nature and Ontology of Spacetime, Albena, Bulgaria, 16-19 September, 2024.
Keywords:	Analogue gravity ⋅ quantum gravity ⋅ Minkowski spacetime ⋅ Lorentz transformation ⋅ de Broglie wave ⋅ wave function
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Gravity Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
Depositing User:	Mr Daniel Shanahan
Date Deposited:	07 May 2025 12:35
Last Modified:	07 May 2025 12:35
Item ID:	25251
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Gravity Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
Date:	16 September 2024
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/25251

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